


Say It Ain't So

by assultx



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2020-01-11 22:37:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18433529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/assultx/pseuds/assultx
Summary: After the events of 14x16, Jack goes back to North Cove, Washington to meet an old friend and lift some weight off his shoulders. (SPOILERS GALORE)





	1. Part I

Jack lie awake in his bed, listening to the rock music playing from Dean’s room. All he wants to do is not think about the events with Stacy, but that was one week ago and it’s still there. Even worse, this brings back everything else he’s done. Back in North Cove he nearly got Clark Barker killed and he actually  _ did  _ kill that security officer in Dodge City. Jack shakes his head, trying to clear his mind again for the fourth time this morning.

Cas will come in to wake him up soon, Jack thinks he knows that something is wrong. He thinks he should get away from them all for a while, if he clears his mind then maybe he’ll be able to look them in the eye again. But where would he go? It’s not like he could just disappear for a couple of days without telling anyone, but if he were to ask to go somewhere they’d ask why and where and would want to tag along.

Jack turns to his other side in his bed with a distant look on his face. Maybe Cas should have never come for him when he died. Jack should be dead with the empty and Cas should be down here not worrying about never being “truly happy.” One more thing that’s Jack’s fault. He’s Lucifer’s son, maybe he really is destined to be evil? Jack sits up in bed. He should get up and stop thinking about this.

“Jack. I was just about to wake you up.” Jack looks up at Cas as he speaks gruffly. “Good morning, Cas,” Jack says  tiredly, rubbing his face. “Dean made breakfast, hurry so it stays hot.” Jack nods and Cas leaves, closing the door. Jack gets dressed and heads to the kitchen, where Dean and Sam are eating. Cas is there, too, but he isn’t eating. “Mornin’, Jack,” Dean says.

Jack looks down and sits in the chair across from Sam. He catches Dean and Cas give each other a glance. They definitely know that Jack did something, he’s unsure if they know what. Maybe Eliot saw them somewhere and told them what Jack did? Jack clenches his fists and tries to calm himself down. “We caught wind of a case in Washington,” Sam starts. Washington? North Cove is in Washington. Sam continues, “Sounds like a simple salt-and-burn case. It could do us some good.”

“Yeah? Maybe all four of us could go this time,” Dean suggests. “Yes, I’d like that,” Jack says, smiling. Cas nods, “I’m not doing anything. I think it would be fine.” Jack starts eating his breakfast. “Where is it?” Dean asks. “Shelton, Washington.” Jack looks up from his food. Shelton is really close to North Cove. Jack could sneak out one night and try to find Clark. “We’ll head out in a couple of hours. Get packed after breakfast,” Dean instructs.

*

This is going to be way harder than Jack thought. Sam and Dean are asleep in the next room over, but Cas is pacing just outside the motel room. If Cas walks in and sees Jack gone, he can’t imagine that going over so well. What if he can’t  even find Clark? It’s 8 pm and he can’t imagine that Clark is at the sheriff's station or Pirate Pete’s, which are really the only two places Jack ever saw him. Jack knows he should just not try, but he’s not that smart.

Jack climbs out of bed and glances at the door before going into the bathroom and locking it. If Cas comes in, he’ll just think that Jack is going to the bathroom. Jack turns on the lights and takes a deep breath, then teleports to North Cove.

Jack is standing in front of the house he was born at and an intense wave of nostalgia hits him. He didn’t think it would feel like this, to be here again. Jack takes a shaky breath and thinks about his mom for a good five minutes before turning and traveling into the woods. He does his best to remember the path he took when he was here before and eventually makes it to Pirate Pete’s. It looks a lot different when it’s this dark but the lights inside are still on.

When Jack enters, he looks around the small space for Clark but instead sees a girl with short blonde hair and parted bangs. “Oh, uh, I was just about to close up,” She says, straightening her posture and looking up from her phone. “Do you know where Clark Barker is?” Jack asks. The girl narrows her eyes at him, “Clark? Why do you want to know where that douchebag is?” Jack shrugs, “We were friends for a while… I was wondering if I could see him.”  The girl sighs, “Sure, I guess. I’ll take you to him but I’ll be really pissed if you turn out to be a murderer or  something. Clark’s cool sometimes.” Jack wants to say that he’s not a murderer but, well…

Jack waits outside at the front of the store as the girl closes the restaurant. “My name is Callie, by the way,” She says after locking the doors. Callie and Jack get into her car (an old 2002 Cadillac Seville) and drive to a quiet neighborhood. “Clark’s bedroom is on the second floor. Throw rocks at his window, he likes all that romantic stuff.” Jack looks over at her, confused, but says nothing. “Which window?” He asks. Callie points to a window on the right side of the house. “Good luck,” Callie says without looking at Jack. “Thank you,” Jack says before climbing out of her car and gathering rocks.

Jack starts throwing the rocks at Clark’s window as Callie drives off. Eventually, the lights in Clark’s room light up and he opens the window and looks down, confused. “Clark?” Jack calls out. “ _ Jack _ ? Holy shit, Dude, it’s been forever!” Clark looks excited, which Jack was not expecting. “Hang on, I’ll come down!” Clark closes his window and Jack drops the rocks in his hands. He walks to the front porch, and soon enough Clark opens the door. “Be quiet, my mom and her boyfriend are sleeping.”

Jack glances around the dark living room as Clark walks to the stairs. “Come on, Man. I don’t want my mom to know I have a friend over this late.” Jack follows Clark up the stairs and into his room. “Don’t you…” Jack starts after closing the  door to Clark’s room. Clark sits on his bed and looks up at him. “Don’t I what?”  Jack looks to the ground, struggling to find the proper words to say. “You seem happy to see me. Why is that? The last time you saw me you were stabbed and it was all because of  _ me _ ,” He insists. “Yeah, I guess. But I am alive, aren’t I? Plus, it wasn’t you who stabbed me. You don’t seem stoned, or whatever you were that day.”

“I hadn’t done any drugs. I haven’t done any drugs at all, really,” Jack explains. “So you were just that fucked, huh?” Clark laughs, “I’m glad you seem okay. You didn’t have any near-death experiences or anything, did you? They suck.” Jack considers explaining that he actually did die once but settles for “No.”

Clark slides off his bed and onto the floor, then pats the space in front of him. “Sit down, Dude. You’re a friend.” Jack does as he’s told, “You say dude a lot.” He sits crisscrossed on the floor in front of Clark. “That’s because I’m cool.”

“Anyway, what the hell are you doing here? How did you even find my house? Are you stalking me? Did you ever find your dad? Who is your dad? _What_ is your dad? I know you’re not human, my mom showed me your fingerprints. They’re cool,” Clark spews out question after question. “We’re here on a case in Shelton so I decided to visit, Callie showed me where you were, I’m not stalking you, I did find him but he’s not my biological dad, and his name is Castiel, he’s an angel. My real dad was also an angel but, well… not a very good one,” Jack  explains. “There don’t seem to be very many good angels,” Clark says, tilting his head a little. “There aren’t many angels at all anymore.” Jack hugs himself and looks away from Clark.

“Seriously, Shelton is like a one and a half hour drive from here. You have to be here for a reason, right? I can’t believe you just decided you would stop by just to say hi at…” Clark checks his phone, “11:23 pm. Luckily for you, I wasn’t really sleeping yet.”

Jack’s frown deepens. Should he really tell Clark everything? Everything he’s done, all the mistakes he’s made? Jack really likes Clark and he wants that to be mutual. He’s not sure if he can handle another person looking at him like he’s a complete freak. Even Cas looks at him like that sometimes now. Jack takes a deep breath and tries not to think about that. “Jack, are you okay?” Clark leans forward a little.

“My father is Lucifer. He’s dead now, or I think he is,” Jack explains after a moment of struggling the right words to say. Clark leans back again, “Your dad is Satan? You’re the son of Satan? But your so…” Clark gestures at Jack. “I’m so what?” Jack asks. “I mean you’re so… good, I guess. That’s one way to put it.” Jack shakes his head. “No, I’m not good. I… I think I might be evil.”

“What do you mean?” Clark asks. “Whenever I use my powers, no matter why, I end up hurting someone. Even my very presence hurts people. I hurt you.” Clark rolls his eyes, “You did  _ not _ hurt me. It was that crazy angel bitch,” he says.  “Okay, but I’ve hurt other people. There was this ghoul, he and Dean got into a shoot out and I used my powers to try to stop him, but a security guard got caught in the crossfire and…” Jack fights tears, “and I killed him.” Clark frowns as he listens to Jack intently. “Last week I met these three people in my home back in Kansas. I was showing them my powers and started to telepathically make a knife float around, and they asked me to stop but I didn’t.” Jack is almost hysterical now. “Stacy tried to move out of the way but she stepped right into the knife’s path and-” Clark grabs onto Jack’s shoulders and he stops talking.

“Calm down, it’s okay,” Clark says softly. “No! It’s like even when I’m trying to be good my powers just make me bad!” Jack exclaims. “Did you like it?” Clark asks. Jack looks up, “What?” “ _ Did you like it?”  _ Jack shakes his head. “Then there you go. You’re not evil just because you made a few mistakes, Jack. No matter how bad those mistakes are.” Jack rests his head on Clark’s shoulder and tries not to cry. Clark sighs, “This is fucked. The fact that you actually think you’re evil is fucked,” he laughs, “I mean, you’re probably one of the purest people I’ve ever met. Maybe  _ the  _ purest person I’ve ever met.”

When Jack stays silent, Clark pushes him away. “I’m not too good with words. I never know what to say, so…” Clark trails off and grabs his phone. Jack looks at him curiously and Clark scrolls on his phone for a couple of seconds. A slow guitar riff starts playing from his speakers. “Listening to  music helps sometimes.” Clark shrugs. “Aren’t you afraid of waking your mom up?” Jack asks. “When I listen to music in the middle of the night, she knows I want to be alone. Sometimes it’s good to be alone.”

Jack hugs himself, “I don’t want to be alone.” He scoots to sit next to Clark and lean against his bed. “Yeah, of course,  _ you  _ don’t. You’re too good to be alone.” Jack shakes his head. He still doesn’t think he’s good, but maybe he’s not as bad as he thought. Maybe he’s not evil or destined to be so.

_ Somebody’s Heine is crowding my icebox _

_ Somebody’s cold one is giving me chills _

_ Guess I’ll just close my eyes _

As soon as the dejected singing starts, Jack’s stomach sinks. The gloomy song, even though Jack can’t perfectly reflect the lyrics, feels like a perfect representation of what he’s feeling.

_ Say it ain’t so _

_ Your drug is a heart breaker _

_ Say it ain’t so _

_ My love is a life taker _

By the time the chorus hits, Jack is clinging onto Clark’s arm, especially during the last line of it. “You can cry. It’s okay,” Clark says when he realizes Jack is holding back. As soon as he says it, Jack starts sobbing into him, inhaling shakily when he needs to. He’s never cried like this, not even the night he actually killed someone. Clark moves to put an  arm around Jack, so he finds himself now clinging to Clark’s waist.

By the time the song is over, Jack is so exhausted that he can barely keep his eyes open. Clark pauses the music and looks down at Jack. “You should probably sleep here for the night. Driving this late when you’re this tired is a dumbass move.” Jack sits up. “I can’t stay here, I have to get back to my motel room or I’ll get in trouble,” he explains. “You can’t drive-” “I teleported.”

“Have you ever teleported when you were this tired?” Clark asks, folding his arms across his chest. Jack thinks for a moment, then shakes his head. “So do you think it’s a good idea?” Jack shakes his head again. “I’ll set an alarm for first thing in the morning. Hopefully, you get there before anyone notices you’re gone.” Clark grabs his phone and sets an alarm for 6 am.

Jack stands up and starts climbing into Clark’s bed, but is stopped by a hand on his back. “No way, Asshole. There’s no way in hell I’m sleeping on the floor,” he insists. “Okay.” Jack starts getting out of the bed but is stopped by Clark again. “I didn’t think you’d be that nice about it…” He sighs. “Whatever. Move over.” Jack slips under the covers and moves to the left side of the bed. Clark turns away from him and falls asleep quickly.

*

Cas frowns at the empty space in Jack’s bed and glances up at the bathroom door. The lights are on so Jack is probably  just going to the bathroom. He almost leaves the motel room again but stops. He glances at the time. 3 am. What is Jack doing up at this time? Has he even gone to sleep? Cas knocks on the door. “Jack?” He waits, but there’s no answer for far too long. “Jack!” Cas knocks on the door again. After another long while of waiting, he turns the doorknob. Locked. Cas frowns deeply and puts his palm on the door. It unlocks and he enters the bathroom. 

Jack is not in the bathroom.


	2. Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three frantic dads and two angsty teens.

Castiel doesn’t know if he should be worried or angry at this point. He’s sitting down in Sam and Dean’s motel room, watching the two brothers frantically call Jack over and over. Cas doesn’t think anything bad happened to Jack, he would have said something if he went out to research.

“He didn’t answer,” Sam says for what feels like the hundredth time in the past hour. It’s 8 am now and they’ve been trying to figure out what happened for five hours. “Damn it.” Dean runs his hands through his hair. “Where could he have gone?” Dean asks. Castiel’s frown deepens and he lets out a frustrated sigh. “I’ll go to the mansion and see if I can find Jack. You and Sam drive around the town and see if anyone has seen him,” Cas instructs. “There is no way in hell you’re going there alone. Jack did and now he’s gone!” Dean exclaims. “We don’t know if he went to the mansion,” Cas reminds him. “So? What if he did and there’s some powerful creature we’ve never seen before?” Dean turns to Cas and starts to raise his voice. “I’m an angel, Dean,” Cas insists. “Yesh? And he’s a damn Nephilim!”

“Guys! Now is not the time!” Sam says, interrupting their arguing. “We shouldn’t have brought him on this hunt. We don’t even know if he still has a soul.” Cas winces at that and looks out the motel window. Sam shakes his head and calls him again.

“Jack!” Jack’s eyes fly open as Clark shakes his shoulders. “What? What’s wrong?” He says frantically. Clark looks down almost shamefully and grabs his phone, then shows Jack the time. “Oh no, no, no, no.” Jack holds his head in his hands and falls back into the bed. “I’m sorry, Man, one of us must have turned the alarm off,” Clark says apologetically. Jack says nothing and moves his hands to his face. “Here, you should probably call them back,” Clark says as he hands Jack his phone. “Oh no,” Jack repeats again as he looks at all the missed calls.

Jack takes a deep breath and clicks on Sam’s contact, then presses the call button. He picks up almost instantly. “Jack! Where the hell are you?” Jack cringes, imagining the look on Sam’s face. He is going to kill Jack. “Well, I’m… so… okay, don’t get mad…” Jack spits out. “We are  _ way  _ past that, Buddy!” Dean’s voice suddenly cuts in. “Okay, well I’m with Clark…” Jack mutters. “Clark? Who the hell is Clark?” Dean demands. “Do you remember North Cove?” Jack asks him.  _ “Why the hell are you in North Cove?” _ Dean yells.

Jack puts a hand over his eyes. He really hates this, he doesn’t know what to do. Sam sighs heavily, “Just get back here, okay? Now,” he says before hanging up. Jack throws his phone down on his bed and practically crumbles in on himself.

When Clark doesn’t say or do anything, he looks up to find him holding back laughter. Jack looks him up and down, confused. “Why are you laughing?” Jack asks him. As soon as  the words leave his mouth, Clark bursts out with laughter. “I’m sorry, it’s just,” more laughter. Clark finally catches his breath, “It’s just, I mean, why are they so mad? You didn’t even do anything dangerous or stupid but they’re all…” Clark starts laughing again.

Jack looks away from Clark and down at his folded hands. He really is right, isn’t he? A smile starts to grow on Jack’s face. There’s no real reason for them to be mad at Jack, and what’s the worst they could do? It doesn’t take long for Jack to be laughing alongside Clark, unable to catch his breath.

*

“What the hell were you thinking?” Dean demands as soon as Jack teleports into the motel room. Cas stands up and puts a hand on Dean’s shoulder, stepping toward Jack. “Why did you go to North Cove, Jack?” Cas asks coldly. Jack didn’t think facing Cas like this would be worse than facing Dean. However, faced with Castiel’s unmoving face, Jack feels all the hilarity of the situation drizzle out slowly. “I wanted to see Clark,” Jack says, avoiding eye contact with Cas. “And why didn’t you tell us that you were going to visit Clark?” Cas asks slowly. Jack glances up at him, then down again. “I don’t know…”

“You  _ don’t know?  _ What the hell does that even mean?” Dean exclaims. “Dean,” Sam says as he grabs his shoulder. Cas sends Dean a glare, then sighs and turns back to Jack. “I’ll ask again; why didn’t you tell us you were going to visit Clark?”  His words send chills down Jack’s spine. He really wants to sit down right now but is too afraid to move. Jack frantically tries to search his mind for an answer that would appease all three men in front of him but comes up empty. He has to settle for the truth.

“I didn’t want you to come with me, I wanted to see Clark alone,” Jack explains. “Why?” Sam asks. “Because I wanted to talk to him about something that I can’t talk about with any of you.” Jack looks up, which is a mistake. Dean looks utterly offended, Sam looks defeated, and Cas just looks empty. “I’m sorry, really! I was just so tired after we were done talking and he let me stay the night so…” Sam sighs. “It’s okay, Jack. Just… tell us next time you want to go somewhere. If you really don’t want us tagging along, we won’t.” He pats Jack on the shoulder and walks to sit on one of the beds behind him. Sam pulls out his computer and looks something up.

Dean shakes his head and moves to sit beside Sam. Jack looks up helplessly at Cas, who smiles softly and sits on the bed opposite Sam and Dean. Jack takes a deep breath and follows suit. He doesn’t know if they let him off too easy or not, but he has the feeling that Dean is going to be pissy all day.

*

At the end of the day, they had asked around about the supposedly haunted mansion, found someone who had an actual real ghost sighting there, and started looking into the  lore of the place. Jack’s eyelids are still heavy from all the reading, and Cas is sitting at a computer. The lights are off so the light is illuminating his frustrated face. Since Jack doesn’t need as much sleep as normal humans, it takes longer for him to fall asleep and if there are any disruptions, like the typing of a keyboard, for instance, it makes sleeping even harder.

“Cas?” Jack says quietly. “Yes, Jack?” Castiel says, looking up from the computer. Jack sits up in his bed. “I want to see Clark again. Not for a long time, I just want to apologize for having to run out on him so quickly and for keeping him so long last night,” he explains. Cas nods, “That’s fine. If you think you’ll end up staying longer than anticipated, then tell me.”

Jack teleports to North Cove again, this time in front of Clark’s window (he wonders if this is actually as romantic as Callie said it was). Jack picks up a couple of rocks and starts to throw them at Clark’s window. The lights were on this time and it doesn’t take very long for Clark to open it up. He smiles when he sees Jack, “Wait there, I’ll open the front door!” Clark calls down. “No! You don’t have to!” Jack calls back. Clark looks down at him quizzically, his smile gone. “I just wanted to apologize,” Jack starts. Clark rolls his eyes and closes the window. Jack blinks, wondering if that means he should go back to the motel.

Jack turns abruptly when he feels a fist connect with his shoulder. “Ow,” Jack says, even though it didn’t really hurt that much. “Why the hell are you trying to apologize to me?  Or- you know what- I don’t even want to know. Just shut up,” Clark orders. “Huh?” Jack says stupidly. Clark smirks and shakes his head. “Whatever, Dude, just give me your phone number. It’ll suck if you break my window one day or something. This way you can text me before you come over and I can unlock the door.”

Clark grabs Jack’s phone, then adds Jack’s contact information to his phone. “There, I sent you a text. Add me on your phone.” Jack looks down at his phone and the text Clark sent.

Got drugs?

Is all it says. Jack smiles faintly and adds Clark’s phone number to his contacts. “Don’t forget to actually talk to me. It’s stupid when you have someone’s phone number and you never even talk to them,” Clark says. “Okay,” Jack says in response. “‘Okay,’ he says.” Clark laughs and rolls his eyes. “Goodnight, Dude. Tell me what happened with your weird dad-trio when you get back.”

Jack watches Clark as he walks back inside his house. He teleports back to the motel room, where Cas is still surfing the internet for something. “How did it go?” He asks. “Good. I think it went good,” Jack says with a bright smile.

**Author's Note:**

> Season fourteen is nothing if not stressful. I love Jack so so so much (and oh my god does he deserve better) so I couldn't resist writing a fic about if everything just went a teeny bit better. In this fic, Jack saved most of his soul before killing Michael, which he still did, so even though not all of it is there, enough is so that he isn't quite as confused between right and wrong. Also, Clark Barker is very underrated and, even though I know it won't happen, I really want him and his mom in another episode.


End file.
